Italy places nearly all major cities on highest heat alert as temperatures soar

Nineteen of Italy's major cities, including Rome, Milan, Venice and Naples, were placed under the highest level of heat alert on Saturday as a fresh heatwave gripped the country, the Health Ministry announced. The red alert; the maximum warning on the nation's three-tier scale; signals that temperatures pose a risk to the entire population, not just vulnerable groups such as the elderly, very young children and people with chronic illnesses.

By Monday, the ministry expects 25 of Italy's 27 monitored cities to be on red alert, leaving only Reggio Calabria on the southern mainland and Messina across the strait in Sicily on the second-highest amber warning. The expansion follows a sequential escalation: 19 cities were on red alert on Saturday, rising to 23 on Sunday with the addition of Catania, Genoa, Palermo and Trieste, before Ancona and Bari join the list on Monday.

Temperatures are forecast to climb into the high 30s Celsius in many urban centres on Monday, with perceived highs reaching 39°C in Naples, 38°C in Florence and Palermo, and 37°C in Rome, according to the ministry bulletin.

Health system under strain

Emergency rooms across the country are already feeling the pressure. Hospital emergency visits rose by 10 to 15 percent during this heatwave, in line with what was observed during the previous one, according to the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine (Simeu). The red alert level, the ministry warned, means the weather is "likely to have harmful effects on the health of healthy and active people, and not only on at-risk groups such as the elderly, very young children, and people with chronic illnesses."

The heat has been linked to a number of deaths this summer, Italian news agency ANSA reported, though officials have not released a consolidated toll. The extreme conditions are also causing problems for agriculture: the grape harvest in Piedmont is starting earlier than usual, and wildfires have flared again in the Gargano area of Puglia, where a large blaze near Peschici forced the Coast Guard to evacuate hundreds of people from beaches by sea last weekend.

Broader European heat crisis

The Italian alert is part of a broader pattern of extreme heat across southern Europe. In France, a wildfire that had been contained reignited on Friday evening in the south-eastern Var region, forcing the evacuation of about 2,500 people. A separate massive fire in the Gironde region is now under control, and some 200,000 evacuated residents have returned home. In Greece, hundreds of people, mostly tourists, were evacuated by sea from the coastal town of Viotia as wildfires burned nearby.

In Spain, more than 200,000 hectares of land have burned in 2026; roughly five times the average by this point in the year; while Portugal's burnt area is also above normal, according to EU data. Climate change is driving temperatures higher worldwide, and Europe is the fastest warming continent, heating up twice as fast as the global average, the Copernicus Climate Change Service says.

The Italian Health Ministry has urged residents in affected cities to avoid direct sunlight and heat exposure during the hottest hours between 11:00 and 18:00, to stay indoors and to drink plenty of fluids. The subtropical anticyclone from North Africa responsible for the heat is expected to maintain its grip over the Mediterranean in the coming days.